How to import a PDF or Word script into a teleprompter
Almost nobody writes a script in a teleprompter. It arrives as a PDF from a client, a document from a colleague or a note on a phone, and the job is getting it in without retyping a word.
What imports cleanly
- Plain text is perfect every time. No formatting to lose.
- RTF keeps paragraph breaks, which is most of what matters.
- PDF works, with the caveat below: it is a layout format, not a text one.
The one to watch is PDF. A PDF stores where characters sit on a page rather than how they group into sentences, so a two-column layout, a header or a page number can end up interleaved with your script.
Fixing an awkward PDF
- Import it and read the first page on screen before you trust the rest.
- Delete running headers, footers and page numbers, which repeat every page and break the flow mid-sentence.
- Rejoin any sentence split across a column or page boundary.
- Replace hard line breaks inside paragraphs. A prompter reflows text to its own width, and stray breaks fight that.
If a PDF fights you, open it in a reader, select all, and paste as plain text instead. Losing the formatting is the point.
Preparing an imported script to read well
A script written to be read on a page is not yet a script to be read aloud. Once it is in, shorten the sentences, break the paragraphs where you intend to breathe, and put each distinct idea on its own line so your eye can find its place after a glance away.
Then set the font size before the speed, and time a read-through: covered in more detail in the Mac teleprompter guide.
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